


Phoenix

by MauveCat



Series: A Year in the Life [1]
Category: Endless Summer (Visual Novel)
Genre: Drama, F/F, F/M, Family Feels, Gen, M/M, Resurrection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:15:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25973500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MauveCat/pseuds/MauveCat
Summary: Taylor begins the process of finding her place in the world.
Relationships: Craig Hsiao/Zahra Namazi, Diego Soto/Varyyn (Endless Summer), Estela Montoya/Main Character (Endless Summer), Grace Hall/Aleister Rourke, Sean Gayle/Michelle Nguyen
Series: A Year in the Life [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1885183
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> You didn't think I was done, did you?

**OCTOBER**

Taylor shivered. The frigid emptiness of the space between stars ran through her veins... no. She didn’t have veins. She didn’t have blood, or bones, or a heart, or anything. She was a tiny fragment of soul swirling within a being of pure energy as it soared through the universe on some unknowable quest. There was no way she could feel coldness, or warmth, or joy, or sadness... and yet, she was cold.

_Why? Why am I cold?_

**_Because you are not where you belong._ **

_I am. I reunited with you. I chose this – life._

**_No. We do not have life, and we do not have death. You chose to save your friends, and you chose to save your world. You did not choose this existence. You are incomplete, as we were before. You yearn for completion, as we did before. You are still... you. We cannot give you what you need. You must find that elsewhere._ **

_But how? How can I –_ The coldness within her blazed into a fiery pain that ripped through her body – oh, _here_ was her body, and her heart, and now... and

**_NOW_ **

Taylor sat up with a gasp. Her heart was thumping wildly... her heart. She put a hand ( _her hand, she had hands again too_ ) on her chest, felt the cold sweat on her skin.

“ _Querida_? What’s wrong?” Estela was awake in an instant. Almost knocking the bedside lamp to the floor in her haste to turn it on, she pulled Taylor into her arms and brushed her hair back. “Are you all right? I can call Michelle if you –”

Shaking her head, Taylor relaxed into her wife’s embrace. “No, no, nothing’s wrong. Really. It was just a dream. I... still have to get used to being asleep, I think,” she said with a shaky laugh. Seeing Estela’s doubtful face, she smiled – and meant it – and leaned closer. “I’m all right. Dreams are nothing compared to waking up with you.”

Her eyes still concerned, Estela gently urged Taylor to lie down again. As she stretched out beside Taylor, she murmured, “Do you want the light on or off?”

“On, I think, at least for a little while. That way I’ll get to look at you until I fall asleep again.”

Estela blushed a little. “It’s... not such a wonderful view.”

Taylor smiled and rested her hand against Estela’s cheek. “It’s the best view in the universe. And I’ve seen a supernova being born, so I should know.” The color in Estela’s cheeks deepened as Taylor slid her hand down the curve of her neck to lightly cup her breast. “But no matter what I saw, I couldn’t feel anything. And nothing, _nothing,_ compares to – oh. _Oh._ I’m sorry!” Her face flushed an even deeper red than Estela’s.

“You don’t need to apologize for _that_!” Estela exclaimed.

“I’m not.” Taylor’s voice dropped to a whisper. “That was for Varyyn. Our minds are still linked and apparently I was, um... leaking a little.” Estela blinked at her. Her mouth twitched, she made a strange little sound in the back of her throat, and then, without warning, she dissolved into giggles. “Not like _that_! I mean, not yet – I mean – no, Varyyn, you don’t need to wake up Diego and go sleep outside again! You know, this isn’t easy with both of you laughing at me. Just... give me a minute.” Trying to control her laughter, Estela leaned her forehead against Taylor’s while the other woman took a series of long, deep breaths. Finally, she opened her eyes and said, “Okay. I think the door’s closed now.”

“Oh, so there’s a door?” Estela rested her hand on Taylor’s hip.

Taylor stared into space for a moment before her eyes came back into focus. “Not a literal door, but Varyyn’s been teaching me how to close off my mind. He says it helps to visualize some kind of barrier, so... a door it is.”

“I see. And... can you lock this imaginary door?” Estela whispered as she slid her knee between Taylor’s legs

“Are you kidding? I just shoved a bunch of towels against the bottom _and_ I hung a sock over the doorknob. C’mere, you.”

* * *

Later that day, Taylor stood in front of the wall of photographs in the living room. She felt, somehow, simultaneously comforted and melancholy. Here were her friends – her family – captured in moments of pure happiness. It lightened her heart to see them like this; proof that they’d all achieved everything she had ever wanted for them was hanging in front of her. Her eyes landed on a photo of Michelle, dressed in scrubs and trying to look aloof – and failing miserably – as a grinning Craig and Zahra held bunches of obnoxiously bright balloons and a sign proclaiming her as the BEST INTERN EVER!!! behind her head. Next, she walked over to an image of Grace in a hospital bed, she and Aleister staring in awe at the tiny bundle held between them, and then to a framed magazine page showing Sean posing with self-conscious pride at his first Superbowl victory party. Here was Diego seated at a long table, deep in conversation with a stern-faced, dark-haired man – famed director Thomas Hunt, some little corner of her mind whispered. She blinked at the moment of vertigo that always came when she realized that she was recalling some random bit of knowledge that had been pulled from the mind of one of her friends.

She jumped a little as a pair of arms encircled her from behind. “Are you all right?” Estela murmured in her ear.

“Oh, yes. I can’t get enough of looking at these pictures,” Taylor said as she turned within her wife’s arms. “All the same, they make me feel a little... lonely.” Keeping her voice low, she went on. “Seeing all of these photos... it’s everything I could have dreamed of for all of you. But I’ve missed so _much_ , Estela. How can I ever hope to catch up?”

“Day by day, _mi vida_. Day by day. You’ve only been back with us for a few days, and no one expects you to learn everything at once.” Estela brushed a kiss against Taylor’s forehead. Raising her voice a little, she said, “I don’t know if you heard him come in, but Jake got back a few minutes ago. Raj is getting some snacks together and we’re all meeting up here in the living room for what he calls the pre-dinner festivities.”

“We’re all going to be ten pounds heavier by the time he’s done with us. And... is Jake okay with Mike staying in Elyys’tel for a while?”

Estela shrugged. “It was Mike’s idea. He says he wants to hole up with a laptop for a while and brush up on our world before he leaves La Huerta. And besides... well, I’m reading between the lines, but I think he also wants to learn more about the Vaanti.” Taylor sighed. In the dark world that an alternate Taylor had unwittingly created, the Vaanti were treated as subhuman beasts, unworthy of any consideration or kindness, and Mike was struggling to overcome the prejudices of a lifetime. Two of Varyyn’s closest friends had offered to take Mike in; Taylor hoped that she’d get a chance soon to spend time with them as well. From the fondness in Diego’s voice when he spoke of them and their little daughter, Taylor knew he considered them family. She and Estela were planning to travel to Elyys’tel the next day and she was starting to feel flutters of anxiety – how were the Vaanti taking the news of her resurrection?

“Geez, you two, why don’t you just flip a coin?” Zahra said over her shoulder. “You can’t _both_ be Princess Peach this Halloween. One of you has to be Mario.” She set a bowl of salsa on the coffee table. She rolled her eyes at Taylor and Estela. “I have to put up with this shit every October.”

“Aww, but I’d be a _much_ better Princess Peach than Raj would.” Craig followed her into the living room. “This head was made for a crown. And besides, Raj looks a lot better in a mustache than I do.”

Shaking her head, Zahra headed back toward the kitchen. “That didn’t stop you from going as the Lorax last year, scrublord.”

“I’m serious! You two agree with me, right?” Craig struck a pose. “Imagine me in a pink dress and a long blonde wig. Amazing, huh?”

Taylor and Estela exchanged a glance. “That’s... one word for it,” Taylor said cautiously.

“See? That settles, it, Raj,” Craig yelled toward the kitchen. “Taylor’s on my side.”

“I refuse to concede defeat,” Raj called back. “I have my dress ready to go, dude. I bet you don’t have a dress yet.”

Quinn entered the living room, Reggie held against her shoulder. “Are they still arguing about Halloween?” she asked as she walked over to Estela and Taylor. “It’s the same thing every year. At any rate, Reggie’s all cleaned up – please don’t tell Grace and Aleister that I let him get that much sand in his hair. They’ll never let me babysit again. Give your aunties kisses, sweetie.” Pursing his lips, Reggie leaned toward Estela and waited for her kiss; after a few moments of deep thought, he repeated the gesture for Taylor. Blinking back tears, she pressed her lips to his round little cheek. The front door opened, and Quinn said brightly, “I bet that’s Mommy and Daddy back from their walk. Let’s go see them!” Bouncing Reggie in her arms, she headed for the entryway.

Sniffling a little, Taylor wiped her eyes. Before Estela could say anything, she nodded toward the kitchen. “That smells a lot more complicated than just plain snacks.”

“Most of it is probably whatever we’re having for supper. I’m gonna go scope it out.” Squeezing past Diego and Varyyn, Craig went into the kitchen. “Whaddaya mean, you already have a dress? You’re lying. You’ve gotta be lying. That’s cheating, bro!”

As they walked over to the two women, Diego looked up at his husband. “Michelle just said that I _shouldn’t_ drink while I’m still on antibiotics, not that I couldn’t.”

“I believe that is what your people like to call a technicality. You will be finished with your medicine in a few days and it will not do you any harm to wait,” Varyyn answered calmly.

“Well, if you’re gonna insist on being all reasonable about it, fine.” Diego frowned when he saw Taylor’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing, really. It’s just....” Taylor waved a hand in the air as she felt herself choke up. “Quinn told Reggie to kiss his aunts, and... he kissed me.”

Careful of his bandaged hand, Diego pulled Taylor into a hug. “Of course he kissed you, because that’s what you are.”

Laughing a little, Taylor rested her head on his shoulder for a moment. As she pulled away, she said, “It’s a lot to get used to. A few days ago I was....” She flapped her hand uselessly at the ceiling. “Up there, and now I’m human again, and I’ve got a body and a family and indigestion – don’t tell Raj or Michelle, I’ve just been eating too much of everything – and it’s overwhelming sometimes.”

Estela wrapped an arm around Taylor’s waist. Swallowing tears of her own, she buried her face in Taylor’s blonde hair. “We’re here for you, _amor._ All of us are here for you.”

“Hold that pose, Princess.” With a start, Taylor looked over at Jake as he lowered his phone. Peering at the screen, he said, “You’ve got a lot of catching up to do, snapshot-wise. We’ve got a bunch of frames stashed away – I’ll get this printed off and stuck on the wall later.” Leaning back into the kitchen, he snagged his beer off the counter before he came into the living room and sat down in one of the recliners.

“Count your blessings, Taylor,” Aleister said as he entered the room. “I had to physically destroy an entire sequence of photographs documenting my first attempt at eating ribs.” Switching Reggie to his other arm, he leaned closer to Estela. “Do I want to know why my son’s hair is wet?”

“Nope!” Quinn smiled brilliantly at him as she reclaimed Reggie. “Everything’s just fine, isn’t it, Reggie? And look, here’s your choo-choo!” Reggie giggled as Quinn sat down with him and he reached for a vividly-colored wooden train. Getting up from the dog bed in the corner, Buddy yawned, stretched, and resettled herself a few feet away from Reggie.

Sean came out of the kitchen bearing a tray of drinks. “Make way, people!” After setting the tray down, he picked up two glasses and handed one to Diego, the other to Grace. “These are the nonalcoholic ones – Raj says your refills are in the blue pitcher in the fridge.”

“Gee, thanks,” Diego said dryly as he sat down with Varyyn on one of the couches.

“Welcome to my world.” Grace gave him a cheerful smile. “A few more days for you, a few more months for me.” She set a stack of plates and napkins next to the drinks before going over to perch on the arm of Aleister’s chair.

Raj came out of the kitchen. “Okay, my dudelings, this should tide us over until supper is ready. You got the papadum, Michelle? Super! Here’s some raita, and I’ve got a few different chutneys – I bet you never had kooma chutney, Varyyn, hope you like it... chips! We need chips!”

Putting a hand on his arm, Zahra turned him back toward the living room. “I’m on it. Sit down.” She put down the bowl she was carrying before handing a notebook to Taylor. “Here ya go – got some homework for you, Tay.”

“What’s this?” Taylor looked at the list of questions as she and Estela sat down on a loveseat. “Are you quizzing me on everything you guys have told me for the past three days?” She looked around the room as her friends made themselves comfortable.

“Nah. Me and IRIS are making some fake IDs and paperwork for you and Mike. You’re gonna need a name, Taylor.”

Taylor stared at her. “I... have a name. You just used it.”

Zahra shrugged. “Well, yeah. But if we’re gonna get any kind of ID for you, you’ll need more than a first name. I figure you might as well choose your own last name.” She turned around and went back into the kitchen.

A silence fell over the room. After a few moments, Estela said, “What’s wrong with ‘Montoya’?”

“Nothing at all.” Diego leaned forward and scooped up a bowlful of chips, passing it to Varyyn. “But you’re going to need to present a birth certificate at some point, Taylor. It’ll be a little weird if that says ‘Montoya’ too.”

Raj nodded slowly. “Marriage certificate, passport, credit history, school transcripts.” He pointed a finger at Michelle. “Medical history, too, and I bet Mike will want a pilot’s license. Zahra’s right. We’ll need to build a paper trail for both of you, along with some sort of backstory.”

Taylor looked down at the piece of paper. “A... name.” Estela reached over and took her hand.

“There’s no need to rush – I imagine it will take some time for Zahra and my mother to get everything together. I suppose the next order of business is Christmas,” Aleister said. Turning to Taylor, he continued. “We’ve been discussing this for a few months and our plans are almost settled. Grace and I would like everyone to come to London for the holidays. We’d love to have all of you gathered together to celebrate with us. Technically it won’t be Reggie’s _first_ Christmas, but since a six-week-old can’t properly appreciate his surroundings, Grace and I decided last year didn’t really count.”

Still a little rattled, Taylor looked up in surprise. “Oh! I’d love to – well, I guess I mean _we’d_ love to?” Taylor gave Estela a questioning look.

Pressing a kiss to Taylor’s temple, Estela smiled. “Yes. We’d love to.”

Nodding happily, Taylor turned back to Aleister. “Estela told me that she has a place in London so we can stay there – we don’t want to make your place too crowded.” She looked around in confusion as everyone started laughing. “What? What did I say?”

“You’ll see,” Grace said over her shoulder as she headed out of the room. “I’ll be right back with proof.”

“I think we’ll be able to find space for you two,” Aleister replied with a smile. “We’ll wait a bit to firm up your travel plans – it’s still more than two months away, after all. That makes you and Sean the last holdouts, Michelle – were you both able to get time off for Christmas?”

“It took a lot of wheeling and dealing and maaaybe an occasional threat here and there – which may come back to bite me since I had to take off with no notice for my ‘family emergency’ this week – but I pulled it off. I’ll need to fly right back to Boston, though. I’m glad I’m almost done with my residency because if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to get more than a few days off next year.”

“So that just leaves me. My mom and her sisters are spending the holidays in Hawaii and for once the Condors don’t have a Christmas game, so I’ll be there too,” Sean added, “but I’ll need to leave with Michelle the day after Christmas.”

Leaning across the coffee table, Craig gave him a high five. “All right!” Settling back into the couch, he grinned at the room in general. “It’ll be our first official Catalyst Christmas with all of us together. So are you guys ready to start decorating yet, Al?”

Aleister nodded. “We think so. At any rate, we’re ready to begin painting walls. It was quite considerate of the previous owner to paint all the rooms the same exact shade of beige, but after a few months of staring at the same exact shade of beige wherever we turn… well, I think we’re more than ready for a change.”

“I’m starting to feel like we’re living in the world’s biggest bowl of oatmeal.” Coming back into the living room, Grace leaned against the side of Aleister’s chair as she turned on her tablet. “I’m glad I took a bunch of pictures to show all of you because frankly, we’re having a hard time deciding on colors and we’ll take all the advice we can get. We want to start with Reggie’s room, but we can’t seem to pick a color.”

“Yellow,” Zahra said absently as she came out of the kitchen with another bowl of chips. Realizing that everyone was looking at her curiously, she shrugged and her expression became guarded. “Yellow’s a good color. Unless you hate it. In which case, forget I said anything.” She handed the bowl to Craig as she sat down.

Raising his eyebrows, Aleister looked up at Grace. “It’s an excellent suggestion, actually. The room’s windows all face east so it’s cheerful enough in the morning, but come afternoon and evening… well, let’s just say that the room could use a little personality. A nice shade of yellow might be our solution.”

“But what shade? There are so many different tones.” Grace looked at Zahra. “Were you thinking of… oh, I don’t know. Schoolbus yellow, or dandelion yellow, or fuzzy duckling yellow?”

Zahra started to answer, but hesitated. Then, with a scowl, she said, “Don’t you _dare_ make me say it.”

“Understood. Fuzzy duckling yellow it is, then!” Aleister beamed at her.

“At least that’s one room taken care of.” Quinn looked up from Reggie to grin at Taylor. “That’s why we all started laughing. The place is _huge_ so don’t worry about taking up too much space. They have eleven bedrooms. _Eleven._ And a morning room, and a drawing room, and a wine cellar… you’re going to love it.”

Coloring a little, Aleister shrugged. “We simply wanted to make sure that we had enough room for guests so we asked our estate agent to concentrate on properties with extra bedrooms. We hadn’t expected to have quite so many, but Grace and I both preferred this house to any of the others we looked at. It’s an old Victorian brick house – a former vicarage, according to the records. It’s very solidly built with remarkably well-preserved woodwork inside.”

“It ain’t quite Downton Abbey, but it’s pretty big for London,” Jake said. “And it’s a lot more modern than I expected, at least on the inside. State-of-the-art security, too, thanks to IRIS.”

“And look at my studio!” Without apology, Grace squeezed in between Estela and Taylor on the loveseat; with an indulgent smile at her wife, Estela made room. Holding her tablet so Taylor could see, Grace began scrolling through pictures. “It’s an old carriage house that got partially converted to a greenhouse at some point – a lot of the glass was broken so we’ve been replacing it with more durable materials. See all the light it gets inside? One of the bedrooms is actually an apartment on the second floor of the carriage house. Oh, and here’s a good shot of the trees surrounding the house. You can’t see much of it, but there’s a tall brick wall behind them. Even though we’re right in the middle of everything – there’s an _amazing_ bakery two blocks away, and restaurants and shops and an adorable little park just down the street – anyway, even though we have almost everything we need within walking distance, it still feels nice and private.”

“It looks wonderful.” Taylor rested her head against Grace’s for a moment. “So if you have a studio, does that mean you’re officially an artist now?”

Grace gave her a bashful smile. “I suppose I am. Sometimes I can’t believe that I had the courage to actually go after my dreams. After all, for so many years... Aleister?” She glanced at her son and her eyes widened as she stared. “Aleister, I think he’s really doing it this time.”

Aleister leaned forward, patting his pockets desperately. “I don’t know where my phone is.”

“Leave it to me, boss.” Jake grinned as he pointed his phone at Quinn and Reggie; at the same moment, Zahra switched her phone on to capture another angle. Oblivious to all of them, Reggie stood next to Quinn with his hands clutching her shirt. He stared at Buddy fixedly as he turned toward the dog. He let go with one hand, and then the other. He wobbled... the entire room held its breath. Then, with a giggle, he thudded to his bottom and scooted over until he was sitting next to the dog. Flopping onto his stomach, he took one furry paw in his hand and began examining it closely. Buddy opened her eyes just long enough to look at the boy before she sighed and went back to sleep.

Letting out an explosive breath, Aleister leaned back in his chair. “I swear, that’s the tenth time this week he’s done that to us. He’s probably practicing when we’re not looking. I fully expect to lift him out of his crib one morning, set him down, and watch him run out of the room.”

“We’ll have to order some more baby gates when we get back home,” Grace added. She looked at Taylor with a trace of apology in her eyes. “Sorry – we do that a lot these days. I didn’t mean to cut off what we were talking about.”

“Are you kidding?” Taylor wrapped her arms around Grace. “I _live_ for that kind of interruption.”

* * *

After supper, Taylor helped Craig and Quinn carry plates into the kitchen. She froze as she saw Michelle and Diego seated together at the table. Diego’s bandages lay discarded on the floor and his hand... Estela almost bumped into her as Taylor came to a halt. She swallowed hard as she stared at his hand.

Looking up at her, Diego gave her a quick smile. “I keep telling everyone, it looks a lot worse than it feels. My main problem right now is how much the stupid thing itches.”

Michelle carefully prodded the tight red skin of his palm. “Believe it or not, he’s right,” she said without looking up. “Based on how you described the initial burns, I wouldn’t expect to see this much healing after a few months, let alone ten days, and that would be after a skin graft. IRIS says she’s finally isolated the active compounds in this salve, but it might take a few years before she can surreptitiously steer medical researchers into combining them in the right proportions. Can you flex your fingers for me?” She shook her head as Diego gingerly bent and stretched his fingers. “Amazing. Too bad I can’t write this up for a medical journal – my career would be made.” As she pulled a fresh roll of gauze out of her medical bag, she said, “I think you’ll be ready to lose the bandages in a few days. You’re still going to have some scar tissue, but surprisingly little. I’m going to send you videos of some more stretching exercises. You need to keep moving your fingers to maintain as much flexibility as possible. It doesn’t look like there’s any sign of infection but I’m still sending another course of antibiotics with you when you head back to Elyys’tel tomorrow. I don’t think you’ll need them, though, so just hold on to them in case you get hurt again.” She glanced at Taylor for a moment. “And before you head out tomorrow, I’ll need just a little bit of your blood. I brought a quick test with me – it’ll only take a few minutes to find out what kind of blood you have.”

“Oh... sure. Let’s do that.” Collecting herself, Taylor carried the dishes over to the sink. “Did everyone but us abandon the cleanup?” Her voice sounded thin and strained to herself.

Craig looked over from where he was putting leftovers in the refrigerator. “Well, since Raj did most of the cooking, it’s not fair to make him wash dishes. He and Sean took Varyyn outside for a while – he gets sorta squeamish when Diego’s bandages get changed. Grace and Al are putting Reggie down for the night. Jake is getting the speedboat checked out for the trip back to Elyys’tel, and Z got a few answers back from Mike already so she’s sending them off to IRIS to get started on his fake IDs.”

“He’s got answers already?” Pulling out a chair, Taylor sat down. “I’ve barely started thinking about the questions.”

“Well....” Diego looked over at her. “Why don’t you start with the basics? You’re definitely rocking the whole blonde thing, so you should probably stick with a European last name. I kind of like the idea of your name being de la Huerta but one, we shouldn’t do anything to advertise your connection to the island, and two, there are plenty of blonde Hispanics but it always starts a conversation. Ask my aunt Araceli about that someday, she’s even paler than you are.”

Quinn finished putting glasses in the dishwasher. “La Huerta is Spanish for ‘the garden.’ Gardner is an obvious option, I guess, but it feels a little _too_ obvious to me. How about... French?” She pulled out her phone and began tapping away.

“That would be Jardin.”

Craig winced as he sat down. “Bro. Even I can tell that your accent _sucks._ ”

Diego shrugged. “I’m better at understanding French than speaking it. I only took classes in French because I thought I’d like Truffaut’s films better if I understood them without subtitles. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work.”

Quinn passed her phone to Estela. “The good news is, Jardin is a fairly common surname in France. It also made its way over the Channel after the Norman Conquest so you could always use the English pronunciation,”

“I know I’d appreciate that. Thanks, Michelle.” Standing up, Diego walked over to the refrigerator.

Keeping her eyes on her medical bag as she packed everything away, Michelle said, “That better be the blue pitcher you’re getting out.”

“Nag, nag, nag. The important thing, though, is how Taylor feels about the name. How does it sound to you?”

Taylor nodded slowly. “Taylor... Jardin. I think I like it.” She looked up at Estela. “Taylor Jardin Montoya?”

Looping her arms around Taylor’s shoulders, Estela leaned against the back of her chair. “By any other name, _mi rosa._ ”

As he sat down again, Diego grinned at Taylor. “See how easy that was? You should pick a middle name too, since we’re talking about it – it’ll make Varyyn happy. He’s endlessly fascinated by how our people choose names. You should have seen how excited he was when he learned Reggie’s full name.”

“Ooh, what’s his middle name?” Taylor looked up at Estela questioningly. When her wife tightened her embrace but didn’t answer, she looked around the table. “Well? It can’t be _that_ embarrassing, not as much as Grace and Aleister love that little boy.”

“Believe me, it’s not.” Leaning forward, Diego looked at her gently. “They wanted him to be named after family. Grace’s father is named Reginald, so that’s obvious. And his middle name is Taylor.”

Taylor stared at him. “They named him....” She fell silent. After a few moments, she held out her hand blindly. “Tissues. Now.” When she could speak again, she looked up numbly at Estela. “They... named him after me?”

Scooting her chair closer, Michelle began rubbing Taylor’s shoulder. “That was the first thing they decided, even before they found out the baby’s sex. There was a brief debate between Reginald and Brandon – that was IRIS’s father – but Taylor came first.”

“They named him after family.” Taylor stared at the table for long moments. Then, without warning, she blurted, “Taylor Olivia Jardin.” She felt Estela’s shuddering gasp as much as she heard it. “That’s my name.” She smiled through her tears. “That’s me.”

**_In order to rise_ **

**_From its own ashes_ **

**_A phoenix_ **

**_First_ **

**_Must_ **

**_Burn._ **

**_\--Octavia Butler, Parable of the Talents_ **


	2. Chapter 2

Four little circles of blood.

Taylor stared at them. Three of the circles were dull swirls of orange-red – they looked like Mars. She’d seen Mars ( _she’d seen so many planets on her journey – little frozen rocks, huge gassy giants, others that reminded her so much of home that it broke the heart she didn’t have anymore_ ) as Vaanu flew away from Earth, and then back again as they brought her home. But beneath her gaze, the blood in one of the circles changed. It separated and clumped together, mottled like the spots on a bird’s egg.

She looked up at Michelle anxiously. “What’s happening? Is something wrong with my blood?”

Drying her hands on a towel, Michelle looked over Taylor’s shoulder. “Only if you had your heart set on having an exotic blood type. You, my dear, are a classic O Positive – that’s most common blood type there is. Once that card is completely dry, you can sign and date it. There’s a little laminated sheet right there to stick on the top of it. And right here, Taylor Olivia Jardin, is your first official proof of identity.”

Smiling a little, Taylor turned back to the blood test kit. “So… I’m ordinary.” Her smile widened as she looked at the bandage on the tip of her index finger. “You have no idea how happy that makes me.” She looked up as Zahra came into the kitchen. “Guess what? I’m O Positive!” she exclaimed.

“Congratulations. I’m a Virgo.” Zahra kept walking toward the coffee maker. As she grabbed a huge mug out of a cabinet, she continued, “Speaking of. You decide on your birthday yet?”

“Well… I don’t actually have any strong feelings on that, so I guess I’ll stick with what my dossier said.”

“Got it. Birthday on the first of January. You’re gonna be the same age as the rest of us, so you were born in 1997. No, scratch that... you look a little younger, at least in this stupid morning light, so let’s make it 1998. O Positive, huh? Do you want to be an organ donor?”

“No, she doesn’t.” Michelle answered before Taylor could open her mouth. “Until I get a chance to test your blood completely, hold off on that – I plan on asking IRIS if she can use one of her drones to scan a larger blood sample, just to make sure you don’t have any weird antibodies floating around. I also want to find out what kind of vaccinations you might need, and I definitely need to find some way to get you a tetanus shot as soon as possible.”

“Good point. You can always change your donor status later if you want. Where do you wanna be born?” Her mug filled to the very brim, Zahra sat down carefully. Reaching for a muffin, she broke off a piece and popped it into her mouth. After she swallowed, she said, “Personally, I’d recommend picking a big city. Everyone thinks it’s safer to choose some obscure little town when they’re starting a new identity but it’s actually riskier. Last thing you want is for some TSA flunky to open up your passport and say, ‘hey, my second cousin was born in Mosquito Junction, Iowa too. Do you know him?’ Easier to be anonymous when you’re from a big city. Good choice on your new last name, too. Never pick something like Smith, or Jones – too obviously anonymous. You can’t be _too_ bland when you’re trying to blend into the crowd. Anyway. What were we talking about? – yeah, I think you should choose a big city.”

Nodding, Michelle sat down as well. “That’s a good point. So there’s New York, of course, or Los Angeles. Chicago?”

Once again, before Taylor could answer, Zahra shook her head. “I’d go with Houston. It’s big and spread-out so if you say you were born there, people won’t automatically assume they know what neighborhood. And you can always say you moved away as a kid to cover why you don’t have a Texas accent.”

“I suppose… sure, why not? Is there anything I should know about Texas?”

Zahra shrugged. ‘Beats me. I’ll download some Willie Nelson tunes for you. And you’re what… about five-six? Don’t bother weighing yourself, I’ll make something up since everyone lies about their weight on their license. I think I’ll have you living in Boston right now because I can build the license off mine and Craig’s. I’ll pick some huge boring apartment complex for your street address. Oh, and I’ll need you to give me a couple signatures. You’ll want to practice as much as you can – if you ever have to sign something in front of a stranger, you don’t want them to see you thinking about it.” She stared into space, frowning. “That should cover it – I probably have enough to start on your fake IDs. We’ll get Jake to take a few headshots – be sure to wear a different top for each one.”

Taylor picked up her coffee. “Should I change my hair and makeup a little between pictures too, so no one will guess the photos were taken at the same time?”

“You’re a natural at being sneaky. I’m so proud of you.” Zahra beamed at her. “I can always tweak the lighting and figure out the right bland backdrops to use when I put your passport and driver’s license together. All of the other documentation will take a little longer, but those two should be plenty to let you move around freely. I should have them ready... give me two weeks or so once I get back to the States. I could rush it if I have to but I’d rather not. Even if it means you and Estela have to wait a few more days to take your little trip, I wanna make sure I’m not cutting any corners when it comes to you.”

Taylor wasn’t quite ready to think about the little trip. “It’s kind of scary how good you are at this.”

“Don’t flatter me. I’m definitely rusty – been a long time since I helped anyone start over fresh – but it’s like stealing a bicycle. Once you learn, you don’t forget.”

“And it’s not like you’ll need a passport for Elyys’tel so there’s really no need to rush,” Michelle added. She looked more closely at Taylor’s face. “You’re not worried about that, are you?”

Taylor looked into her coffee. “No, no, of course not.” She sighed. “Well... maybe a little?” she said uncertainly. “The Vaanti have believed I was dead and gone for five years. How are they going to react when they find out I was just... gone?”

Michelle gave her a reassuring smile. “According to Diego, his friend Mauri says he’s got that covered. He doesn’t know what the cover story is going to be, but I think you can trust Mauri to come up with something convincing.”

“Guy’s a born schmoozer,” Zahra said. She sounded slightly envious. “He can convince anyone of any _thing_. If he wasn’t blue, I’d like to bring him back with us. Might be fun to run a con with him someday. For some kind of stupid noble cause, Meech, so don’t give me that look.”

Feeling a little better, Taylor picked up a muffin. “So Diego’s really close to this... you said his name is Mauri?”

“Oh, definitely.” Michelle nodded. “He and Varyyn have – well, I don’t know if there’s some Vaanti term for it, but the two of them are basically a family unit with Mauri and his wife.” She and Zahra exchanged a glance. “And you should probably know that when they were younger, Varyyn and Mauri and Paravet were sort of a thing. At one point their families all assumed that the three of them would end up together – polyamory isn’t exactly common among the Vaanti, but three-way handfastings aren’t all that rare either. By the time they got out of their teens, though, they’d all figured out that it wouldn’t end up that way. And then Diego entered the picture, and you know the rest.”

Taylor shook her head. “Part of the rest, at least. I’ve got so _much_ to catch up on. I kind of wish Diego wasn’t going back to Elyys’tel already. I feel like we’ve barely been able to spend any time together.”

“His man’s got a lot of elyysharing to do and it’ll only wait so long. Varyyn’s not about to let Diego out of his sight anytime soon so they gotta go back together. Anyway, it’s the other side of the island, not the other side of the world, Tay,” Zahra said with an unexpected amount of sympathy in her voice. “If we can all stay in touch with Diego from thousands of miles away, you sure won’t have any problem. And with the speedboats it’s a quick trip back and forth. You and Estela can head up there as often as you want and stay as long as you like. And the rest of us are going to stay on La Huerta for a few more days after you get back, and all of us are going to find any excuse we can to get back here. No one’s abandoning you, dumbass,” she finished affectionately.

“I suppose that’s true.” Cheering up a bit, Taylor sat back in her chair and looked at Michelle. “So. What does our style guru recommend that I wear to a resurrection?”

* * *

“I told you to trust me,” Mauri said in a slightly wounded voice. “Why are you surprised that the Vaanti have easily accepted your return?”

Taylor looked up at him with an apologetic smile. “I guess it’s because I would have tried a ridiculously complicated explanation. It would never have occurred to me to just… well, tell the truth.”

“It was not precisely the truth.” Paravet looked at her husband with affection.

“But it was close!” he protested. “I said that Taylor’s body was severely damaged when she defeated the Hydra, so severely that we thought she was dead. That was true… mostly true, at least. And I said that Vaanu carried her away for a time until she was healed, and when the time was right, Vaanu returned her. That was also the truth.” He shook his head with mock despair as he turned to Quinn. “Sometimes I feel unappreciated.”

“Poor guy.” Quinn smiled down at Xiraana. “Your daddy is a very good storyteller, isn’t he?” The little girl nodded absently as she continued running her fingers through Quinn’s long red tresses. Her despair when she realized Reggie wasn’t among the visitors had been mostly, if not entirely, soothed when she realized that Quinn was there. After a quick examination of Taylor’s blonde hair, she’d turned her attention back to the redhead.

Smiling, Taylor looked around the central square outside the Great Tree. She’d been warmly and enthusiastically welcomed by the Vaanti when their boat pulled into the fishing dock north of Elyys’tel, and then, to her relief, she’d been largely left alone. Something wonderful was cooking in the nearby kitchens, and Jake and Estela stood off to the side speaking with Seraxa and… and Mike. As their eyes met, she looked away a little guiltily. She didn’t want him to feel like she was intruding on his time with Jake. Neither Varyyn nor Diego was in sight; she carefully felt around for Varyyn’s mind, only to find his mental door firmly and emphatically closed to her. Her smile widened as she took note of how he did it.

Turning back to Paravet, she said, “It looks like things are going well here.”

The warrior nodded. “They are.” Turning to Quinn, she added, “Our scouts have seen Furball several times in the northern mountains. He seems well, but he did not allow any of our people to approach him. He is still growing. According to Fedra, he is now nearly as large as T’Kal.” Quinn started to reply; after a moment, she gave Paravet a small, sad smile and turned her attention back to Xiraana. “As for the rest of us, some of our people find it strange to live in peace after such a long time of war, but most of us are simply glad.” She smiled a little. “Even Seraxa is beginning to speak of surrendering her position as war chief.”

Mauri grinned. “Who can be surprised? With her son falling in love– and out of love! –with someone new every ten days, how will she find the time to defend our city?”

Taylor sighed. “Taari is what… fourteen or fifteen years old now? And he’s so _tall_.”

“He will be taller. His parents were both….” Paravet held her hands nearly a foot apart. “At least that much taller than I am. Taari will be the same height, I am sure. His legs seem longer every time I see him.”

Quinn laughed. “I can’t wait to tell Sean that Taari’s going to be taller than he is. And Diego said he’s training to be a… a tree scout?”

“A treewalker.”

“Right. Well, at least he won’t have any trouble getting up there, but won’t he be too big for the branches to hold him?”

“Do not let him know that I told you but there have been a few broken – ah, Mike.” Taylor looked up in surprise; she hadn’t heard him approaching.

“Hey.” Leaning against a tree, he nodded at Mauri but his eyes were on Taylor. “You know, we really haven’t had a chance to get to know each other, Blondie. Feel like taking a walk?”

“Well… sure, why not?” Taylor looked over at Jake and Estela. He gave her a reassuring nod as he kept talking to Seraxa. Estela looked slightly concerned, so Taylor lifted her hand in a little wave as she got to her feet. “It sounds like we have some time before tonight’s feast is ready.”

They walked in silence for several minutes. When they were near the outskirts of Elyys’tel, Mike gave her a sidelong glance. “Sorry. I can’t think of a good way to break the ice. How ‘bout you?”

Laughing a little, Taylor shook her head. “I’m coming up empty too.” After a few moments, she asked, “There’s no point in talking about the weather, is there? So... what do you think of Elyys’tel?”

“So far, so good. I like the food.” He shrugged. “Look, I hope none of you guys were offended that I decided to take off for a while. It’s just that... damn, there was a _lot_ of hugging and crying that first day. I didn’t want to intrude.”

Taylor looked at him in surprise. “Oh, God, Mike – no. None of us are mad about that. We’re all... well, I suppose we’re concerned about how you’re adjusting. You’re in a whole new world.”

“Yeah. Lot of that going around, from what I hear – wait.” He came to an abrupt stop; he didn’t seem aware that he was holding out his arm to keep Taylor behind him. A few seconds passed before he relaxed slightly. “Oh. It’s you.”

“Who is it?” Taylor peeked around Mike’s shoulder. “Oh!” T’Kal blinked several times as he stared at her. The sabertooth stepped forward, sniffing cautiously as he looked at Taylor with what she swore with a perplexed expression. “I... I suppose I might smell a little different than I did before... oh. Oh my God,” she breathed as a second, smaller cat peeked its head out of the undergrowth. “I – I always thought T’Kal was the only one.”

Mike shook his head. “According to Doc, there are two packs on the island.” It took Taylor a moment to remember that ‘Doc’ was what Mike called Diego. “The cat and his missus have a few cubs. This one is... Vera? Something like that.” Taylor held her breath as the young cat walked over to her; it rubbed against her legs, almost knocking her off balance, before wandering back to its father. “Nice talking to you guys,” Mike called as the two cats crossed the path to continue their journey. “Maybe someday I’ll get used to those things,” Mike muttered as he and Taylor resumed walking. After a few more yards, his steps slowed. He sat down on a large boulder by the path leading south out of the city. A little hesitantly, Taylor sat down beside him. Mike stared into the lush green canopy above. “There weren’t anywhere near this many trees on La Huerta when I got here. Most of them got chopped down to make it easier to mine for crystals. I snuck onto the island disguised as one of the workers bringing in new bulldozers. The Emperor... he liked this place. Whenever someone did something that he really liked, he’d invite them to come here. He’d get one of his copters started up and take them on a hunting trip. Without any cover, it was easy to hit targets on the ground.”

Dreading the answer, Taylor asked, “What were they hunting?”

“Once in a while, if he was feeling mellow, the few wild boars that were left. I think he’d already killed all the sabertooths. The pelts were one of his favorite gifts for his lackeys. But most of the time?” Mike sighed. “He’d pull a Vaanti or two out of the labor camps and make them run for it.” Taylor stared at the ground, blinking hard. A few minutes passed before Mike spoke again. “As long as we’ve known about them over on my side, everyone just accepted the Emperor’s word that they were basically animals, that they didn’t feel pain the way we do. So getting to know them is….” He glanced at Taylor. “My first night here, Mauri and Paravet were trying to make me comfortable. All of a sudden, Seraxa shows up. You know her, right?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “I saw her kill Rourke a few days before, along with plenty of others. Anyway, she’s standing there with a basket. She gives it to me and says, ‘This is Shao. He’ll keep you company while you’re here.’ Leaves without another word. I look in the basket and there’s this huge fuzzy pink and purple cat staring at me. Damn thing starts purring every time someone makes eye contact with him. He slept on my stomach last night.” He shook his head slowly. “The war machine gave me a loaner cat, a friendly one, so I wouldn’t be lonely.”

In spite of herself, Taylor laughed. “I’m not surprised. Seraxa is a lot kinder than even most of the Vaanti realize. She made me an incredible dinner when I saved her son’s life.”

“The beanpole? He’s a good kid. Apparently he’s got a crush on the redhead.”

“Really? Well, it probably won’t last. According to Mauri, it’ll be someone else in a few days. He’s at that age.” She looked at Mike. “You know that you’re welcome to come back to the beach house with us, right? All of us want a chance to get to know you better.”

“For Grandpa’s sake?”

“Sure, because we know how much you mean to Jake. But for your own sake, too.”

Mike made a noncommittal sound. “That first night you were all together, before I asked Jake to run me up here... you know, back where I come from, the Snake and the Dragon Lady both had their own armies. They kept trying to outdo each other to be more like their father. But that night, Estela couldn’t stop hovering over you, bringing you drinks and holding your hand. And Aleister and his wife were waltzing around the room with their kid, acting like the rest of the world didn’t exist. I guess I needed some space to get my head around how different things are here.”

Taylor smiled. “Grace and Aleister are so happy, aren’t they? From what I hear, they were crushing on each other as far back as Hartfeld.”

“Hartfeld? That was a good school.”

“It _was_ a good school? What happened?”

Mike shrugged. “An explosion. I guess it was six or seven years ago. There were a couple official stories that no one really believed – terrorists, a gas leak, even a freak earthquake. Lundgren was spotted in the area the next day so even though no one had the guts to point fingers, most people assumed he had something to do with it. At any rate, pretty much the entire campus blew up one day. Hundreds of people were killed. They never rebuilt.”

“Hundreds....” With a dizzying lurch of comprehension, Taylor understood. Rourke. She had a dim vision of another self in another reality, gathering her friends together, making plans, a bunch of kids trying to take down a dictator. Just your typical dystopian YA novel setup. “He was taking out the opposition,” she whispered dully. “It’s... my fault.” Unable to look at Mike, she took a deep, painful breath. “I... remember. One of the choices Rourke offered me was the opportunity to live a completely human life with my friends. All I had to do was let him have his way. In your reality, everything – the wars, the deaths, everything – it’s my fault. I destroyed an entire world. It all happened because I believed Rourke.”

Mike was silent for a long time. Then, with a heavy sigh, he looked at Taylor. “If you’re thinking of blaming yourself for all of that... look, all I’ll say is that Rourke fooled an entire country – hell, an entire world, at least for a while. Do you really think a kid who just wanted to be with her friends should’ve been smarter than an entire world? Besides, it looks like here, you made another choice. You _saved_ an entire world, Blondie. From where I sit, the scales are balanced and you can start over fresh. What happened over there... I won’t say it wasn’t a fucking hell to live through. But that was another world, another you.”

“And besides, the wench is dead.” At Mike’s questioning look, Taylor laughed shakily. “Sorry. I don’t know what that’s a quote from. I don’t know how much my friends told you about what I am, but the truth is, I was created out of thin air the day they first came to La Huerta. I only have about a month’s worth of memories, repeated a couple thousand times, that are entirely my own. Everything else... it all got pulled from my friends. I could probably pick a lock and replace a transmission. I know exactly how to make a meringue that doesn’t deflate or get weepy, and I’ve been told that my makeup game is on point. I know a ton about movies and television, but I never did find out which one of my friends basically memorized everything Agatha Christie ever wrote. All of that was stolen from my friends’ pasts, their memories. None of it is really me. For five years, all I could think of was finding my way back to my friends. And now that I’m back home, it’s like I was never gone. They’re all so happy I’m back with them and _I’m_ so happy to be back but I still feel almost like an imposter sometimes. Once I get a passport, Estela wants to take me to San Trobida next month to meet her uncle and I’m terrified. I... don’t have a clue what I’m supposed to do with myself. I have no idea what kind of job I could have, or even how to apply for one, but I don’t just want my friends to support me. I don’t know how I’m going to fit into this world.”

“I can relate,” Mike said with a hint of a smile. “At least I can get work as a pilot without too much trouble. I spent the past few days making up a new history for myself, but that spooky chick kept telling me to start over. I finally decided that my new last name is Choi. It was my mom’s name, and... I don’t know, I guess I need some connection to my family, even if I can’t tell them I’m alive.” He looked away for a moment. “No pressure, but I think maybe you and me could both use a friend who’s going through the same thing.” He stood up and extended a hand to Taylor. “Wanna shake on it, Blondie?”

“Sure.” Taking his hand, Taylor let Mike pull her to her feet. “So does this mean you’ll think about coming back with us tomorrow?”

“You know what? I just might.” As they turned to walk back to Elyys’tel, he asked casually, “Grandpa and the redhead – Quinn? – it looks like they’ve got something going on, huh?”

Taylor nodded. “It looks that way. I’m still catching up but I don’t think they’re precisely a couple. Unless she and Jake have both changed a lot in the past five years, neither of them is really the exclusive type.” She looked at Mike curiously. “Why do you ask?”

Mike shrugged. Even more casually than before, he said, “Just catching up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are going to be twelve parts in this series. I have most of it charted out, but August is giving me a little trouble.


End file.
